This is the season of Starling murmurations.
On Monday i visited a local nature reserve, Summer Leys south of Wellingborough, and to the south of the road a little west of the car park there was a good display of Starlings swirling around over the reedbed before they dived into it to roost.
It wasn’t quite like the image above, but not far short. I’d say there were about 3000 birds at peak in the air together, looking like a giant Paramecium swirling around in the darkening Northants sky.
It’s worth keeping an eye open for Starling murmurations near you – some famous ones are at Gretna, Otmoor, Brighton Pier, the Somerset Levels and I used to stare out of the bus going home from school as we picked up passengers at Temple Meads Station in Bristol.
Or, you could just watch beer adverts.
Also Aberystwyth they roost under the pier.
It’s also worth visiting http://www.starlingsintheuk.co.uk/roost-map.html as well, as I’ve just found out there’s a new roost near me.
Gaina – that’s a new one on me – looks quite useful (I wonder how up to date it is)